Lacey June 20, 2010

Grammie, PawPaw and Uncle Bubba cking Lacey Out

Lacey was born 6 days late. That is very out of character for my firstborn. She is always on time, in place and doesn't appreciate any one else's lateness either. June 20, 1984, the day before father's day. So instead of flag day being" labor" day that year, it was fathers day that became "labor" day.


I was 23 when I had Lacey. I was a child that thought I knew it all. I had been married 3 years and the ole "Baby ticker" was full out throttle. Her pregnancy was a breeze, since I am so tall, I am basically a "king size bed" for babies. No drama during the 9 months, just happy anticipation. Didn't know what we were going to have either...didn't have the luxury of ultrasounds back then. I do remember the day I had her though. If I had known that THIS WAS THE DAY, I would have rested a minute. I had gone to my mom and dad's in Shawnee (lived in Norman, with Hubs going to OU)for the day to get a haircut. I walked up and down Main street about 20 times, (Back when Shawnee still had a Main Street) went by and visited my uncle and aunt, and washed my car in maternity shorts and a halter top (Now that was a SIGHT), actually on my knees scrubbing my spoke wheels with a brush. Dad got home at 5:25 (like always) and I was sitting in the front room starting to hurt and when I told him, he immediately got diarheaa. Sympathy pains full out. My dad's older sister, Aunt Jenny and Uncle George came over to see me, and I called Carl (at work in Norman) and put him on full alert. I think we all met at the hospital around 10ish (Carl's parents and sister, and my parents and brother) and I walked the halls, determined not to hook up to that IV. OK, remember these were the days of "NATURAL CHILDBIRTH" "WHAT IS BEST FOR YOUR BABY" "PAIN IS GOOD"... so I am walking the halls and stopping on the rails and panting through the contractions. Well, my poor daddy just had to go to the bathroom EVERY time I had a contraction, so we sent him home. Too much for him. (Side note here, MAN i miss my daddy today... Happy Fathers Day, sweet dad)... So about 1 am, they put me in a bed and my pains totally stop. Crap. Really? So we all doze about 20 minutes, and then Lacey decides it is time for "Let's do the dang thang", and it's game on. Little girl rolls over on her cord and shuts her oxygen supply off, so I am on my side breathing oxygen and panting my way through the pains, when my doctor says "If she's not here in 10 minutes we are doing a c-section, I won't risk this baby". Lacey heard her, and in keeping with her M.O. of perfection, she rolled off her cord and all was well... Everyone that has had a baby knows that ALL SENSE OF MODESTY flees when you are in the midst of transistion. All Modesty flees. At some point I think I would have invited the garbage man in if he had had someway to relieve some of that pain. Oh, and back then, there was no giving birth in the same room. Oh, NOOOOOOO. About the time you feel like you are FINALLY going to poop the watermelon that has been tormenting you for HOURS, they wheel you out of your room to the delivery room. Well, my mom has called my poor dad back out, since they knew it was soon, and as they are moving me to the delivery room, there they all are standing at the end of the hall waving, and all I can say is "OH MY GOSH I NEED TO PUSH" and my dad, "Well, I didn't need to see that" and back to the bathroom he goes.

5:10 am, 8 pounds 4 1/2 oz of pure perfection. 20 1/4 inches long.... a girl. Lacey DeeAnn (named for her grandmas Dee, my mom and Ann, Carl's) Best baby on the planet. She was a grown up even at birth. I kid and say when I showed her her room for the first time, she said "Could you move the crib against that wall, and move the rocking chair? This room has no Feng Shei?".

She knew we were clueless about raising another person, so she helped us as much as she could. At 3 years old, we were trying to buy our first house, and she LOVED the whole idea. We were eating dinner one night and she looked at us from her high chair (cause she was a short little rascal) and said "Let's talk about house payments". We all still quote that one. Then after pumping her up about school and how much fun kindergarten was going to be, and that she would be going to school, we walked her into the building and she looked up to me and said "So, which room do I teach in?"

That was our life with Lacey. Organized, efficient, SMART, the biggest worrier ever on the planet. Fast forward to HS and college... Worked a full time job, went to school and managed to bag a good man. All the time making straight A's. When she made a B it was like she had failed. Always a superachiever that made her goals. Always. SHe had always thought she wanted to be an accountant and was going to college to do that.. about 2 1/2 years in, she calls me and say "Mom, I don't know why but I just have to change to Child Development. It's really something I want to do". I'm thinking babysitter?? really? but she has always had a nose for what is best for her, so on she goes. Child Development. Little did we know how important that move was going to be in a couple of years.

Then 3 years ago, on her birthday, she hands me a present. I pull it our and it's a picture of her and Brad holding a pg stick and it's positive... Even that was perfect. We get to march almost 4 months into the pregnancy competely oblivious to anything ever being wrong. We find out it's a girl, and at the family party to unveil they pull out camo pants (everyone screaming It's a boy) and when they turn it around there are ruffles on the butt (IT"S A GIRL) and my heart is singing.

I go to the next ultrasound with them, and that's when we discover our journey is going to be so different that the journey I had with Lacey. October 3, 2007. Lacey was 23 years old. The choices handed to her, the decisions she had to make, nothing I ever had to deal with or accept at her age. And as everything else in her life to date, she accepted the challenge and rose to it with boldness.

Laynie up to that day was Laynie DeeAnn, and on the next day, as we sat in a circle at a round table at Children's Hospital, waiting for Lacey to go back for her MRI on Laynie's brain, we changed her name to Laynie Hope. Because we all had Hope. Unstoppable Hope. Unmoveable Hope. Still so naive in our walk, not having any idea of the enormity of life ahead.

On this day, 26 years after the birth of my precious eldest daughter, I have Unstoppable Hope. Every step in life is a LINK in your journey. Every decision marks your life the rest of your days. What luck I gave birth to one of my best friends. She is still teaching me things every day. And how fortunate my granddaughter is, to have her as her mother.

God is Good, all the time.